“Originally this was all part of a ‘proof of concept’ thing,” co-founder Dave Cuttino said of the distillery’s first few years in business. “Our stuff just kind of struck a nerve with the market and we haven’t been able to keep up with demand.” (In Virginia, Reservoir’s bourbon sells for $41.95 per 375-milliliter bottle.)

Cuttino and co-founder Jay Carpenter, 1990 Collegiate graduates, came up with the idea for Reservoir while drinking high-end whiskey. They thought they could make a better product than the one they were consuming, and put their first bottles of Reservoir on ABC store shelves in 2011.